New facts disclosed in Marine wife’s killing

6  Brittany Killgore’s blood and a weapon used against her was found in a Marine staff sergeant’s car by investigators, a prosecutor said Thursday during a court hearing in which several previously unknown facts about the death of the 22-year-old Fallbrook woman were revealed.

Louis Ray Perez, 45, pleaded not guilty in Vista Superior Court to her murder. He had been named a “person of interest” in Killgore’s slaying and has been in jail since April 15 on unrelated weapons charges.

Killgore, whose husband was a Marine deployed in Afghanistan, went missing April 13 after a planned outing with Perez and another woman. That woman bowed out at the last minute, authorities said.

Four days later, Killgore’s body was found on a rural road near Lake Skinner in Riverside County.

Perez was the last person believed to be with Killgore before she disappeared, sheriff’s officials have said.

Deputy District Attorney Patrick Espinoza told the judge at Thursday’s arraignment that Perez has misled authorities about what happened that night and Killgore’s blood has been found in his car.

Espinoza also said that investigators have uncovered that Killgore sent a text to a female friend on the night she disappeared saying she was in distress.

“She sent a text saying, ‘Help,’” he said.

Judge Kimberly Lagotta set Perez’s bail at $3 million and also set co-defendant Jessica Lynn Lopez’s bail at the same amount. She was re-arraigned Thursday on an amended complaint that names both as defendants. Lopez again pleaded not guilty.

Both will now be tried together for Killgore’s murder. If convicted, each could face a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Lopez, 25, was described in court as being one of Perez’s roommates. Perez and his girlfriend, who also lived with Lopez, were involved in sadomaschism and bondage, according to online profiles.

Perez described himself as “lord and master” of his household, and his girlfriend as his “slave, lover, confidant and partner.”

The prosecutor said the day after Killgore disappeared detectives contacted Perez, who told them he had dropped Killgore off in the Gaslamp Quarter on April 13. But investigators quickly determined Perez had never left Fallbrook that night, Espinoza said.

They then searched the interior of Perez’s car, he said, “where they discovered Brittany Killgore’s blood.”

“They also found a weapon they determined had been used against Ms. Killgore inside the vehicle,” the prosecutor said.

Perez’s attorney, Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jeff Reichert, asked the judge to consider a lower bail and gave her a copy of a suicide note allegedly written by Lopez and found by detectives when they arrested her on April 17 inside a room at the Point Loma Ramada Inn. She was briefly hospitalized after her arrest for self-inflicted lacerations.

“She had made a significant suicide gesture and left a detailed note,” Reichert said. “That note indicates very, very clearly that my client, Mr. Louis Perez, had nothing to do with the homicide. That note indicates fully and completely that Ms. Jessica Lopez committed the homicide.”

Reichert argued that the contents of the note were enough for officials to immediately charge Lopez with Killgore’s homicide. But, he said, the note also offers “valid evidence that Mr. Louis Perez should be exonerated.”

The judge sealed the contents of the note at the request of the prosecutor and Lopez’s attorney.

Lagotta agreed to set Perez’s bail at the amount requested by prosecutors, saying the note linked Perez to Killgore’s death.

Killgore moved to Fallbrook in August 2010 with her Marine husband. She had filed for divorce three days before her disappearance. Her husband, Lance Cpl. Cory Killgore, has returned from Afghanistan, and on Thursday he issued a statement through the Sheriff’s Department.

He called his wife “beautiful beyond words and her murder has left me devastated.”

“My duty to her memory is now to ensure her good reputation remains intact, and help law enforcement and prosecutors secure justice for the person, or persons, who took her away from me,” he said.

He asked people to “please honor my wife’s name and don’t succumb to salacious gossip and rumor.”

“Brittany was a beautiful, good person who did not deserve this,” he said.